By: Express News ServiceNew Delhi | December 24, 2025 05:24 AM IST 3 min readThe Indian Express reached out to Dean of Academics, K Ratnabali, but received no response.The University of Delhi’s Standing Committee on Tuesday allegedly sent back proposed courses and revised syllabi tabled by the departments of Economics and History after objections were raised in a meeting on Monday.According to the committee members, additional elective courses for the second semester of the two-year postgraduate programme in Economics were tabled, including Course 4, titled Economics and Gender.The members allegedly argued that these themes were not correlated with Economics, were not aligned with the course titled Economics and Gender, and were “ideologically loaded”.Monami Sinha, a member of the Standing Committee, argued that “women’s workforce participation in India is among the lowest globally”, and that “social norms, domestic violence, and concerns around safety are key factors which determine workforce participation of women”.Despite these clarifications, the members allegedly remained adamant, following which the course was allegedly sent back for revision.Meanwhile, as the Department of History tabled its Discipline-Specific Core (DSC) and Discipline-Specific Elective (DSE) courses for the second semester, members of the National Democratic Teachers’ Front (NDTF) allegedly objected, stating that the syllabus was biased and skewed towards global history.In the case of DSC 4, titled Themes in Ancient Indian Economy and Society, it is learnt that objections were allegedly raised to the inclusion of the term “society” in the title. Members argued that since the three DSCs address the economic history of India across the ancient, medieval and modern periods, the term “society” was a misfit and that readings relating to social aspects should be removed.Story continues below this adSinha countered this by stating that “economy and society are analytically inseparable, particularly in historical analysis,” and that “each has enduring and mutually constitutive effects on the other”.Despite this, it is learnt that several readings were allegedly asked to be dropped, including Shireen Moosvi’s ‘Work and Gender in Mughal India’ from People, Taxation, and Trade in Mughal India — which was allegedly removed from DSC 5. Indrani Chatterjee and Richard M Eaton’s ‘Slavery in South Asian History’ was also allegedly dropped from DSC 4.Denying allegations of ideological interference, Standing Committee member Harender Tiwari said, “This syllabus was prepared in haste and there was mismatch of readings with the intended contents and therefore the house requested the head to revisit the syllabus to frame it properly with appropriate readings.”The Indian Express reached out to Dean of Academics, K Ratnabali, but received no response. Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:delhi universityNew Delhi